Lenze dismasts in La Solitaire du Figaro

by Sabina Mollart-Rogerson on 4 Aug 2008

Gildas Morvan (Cercle Vert) continues to lead forty-eight hours into the second leg of La Solitaire du Figaro race in 15 knots of southwesterly wind and big seas and is just over 200 miles from the finish.

Lenze dismasts in the early hours of the morning following a collision with a cargo ship; safe and sound, the skipper heads for his home port in Trinité-sur-Mer under motor, forced to abandon the race. The leaders are expected to pass Ushant from 10 p.m. this evening, just as the tide will to turn and Jean-Philippe Le Meitour (La Voix de l’Enfant) trails alone, 40 miles behind Elodie Riou on KPMG and over 90 miles from the leader.

Jean-Paul Mouren (M@rseillEntreprises) was able to relay the unfortunate news of Lenze’s dismasting to the Race Office boat in the early hours of the morning. A cargo ship collided with Franck Le Gal in the middle of the Bay of Biscay, 275 miles west of La Rochelle. Under the impact, Lenze dismasted, safe and sound Franck was able to cut away the rig and heads towards La Trinité-sur-Mer. 'We have been able to join Franck Le Gal over the VHF, he is obviously upset about having to abandon the race, but he sounds well and he has the situation under control. He no longer has the mast, but has kept the boom and spinnaker pole in order to be able to build a jury rig,' explained Patrick Eliès from the Race Security boat.

The skippers have all been doubly vigilant whilst crossing the Bay of Biscay and underlying the fact that despite the technical surveillance equipment they all have installed, such as AIS and Activ’Echo (Automatic Identification System), this rare and unfortunate situation can still arise. Chasing Morvan, eleven boats are within just 2 miles of each other. Nicolas Berenger (KONE Ascenseurs), Gérald Veniard (Macif), Gildas Mahé (Le Comptoir Immobilier), Erwan Tabarly (Athema), Christopher Pratt (DCNS 97), continue to swap places as they gybe and hustle for the best angle of approach. 'There are ten of bunched quite close together chasing down Gildas (Morvan) and, like on a cycle race, we face two major hills climbs, the Breton headland and the raz Blanchard, describes Veniard, 'We all know the Breton coastline well and what is going to be tough is that Gildas is going to get round it at the right time before it turns, whilst we will get there later and it is going to complicate things' laments Vincent Biarnes (Côtes d’Armor) lying in 29th place and 20 miles from the leader.

British sailor, Andy Greenwood on Imtech, has gradually inched his way up the rankings and lies in 36th place ahead of Liz Wardley on Sojasun and fellow rookie sailor Adrien Hardy on Agir Recouvrement. 203.6 miles remained at 15:30 today to reach the finish in Cherbourg-Octeville and although it is early to predict the ETA with two headlands to round and strong tides and currents to contend with, the first can be expected to arrive from 17:00 local time tomorrow on what Erwan Tabarly (Athema) predicts to be 'a coastal race from tonight onwards.'

Gildas Morvan (Cercle Vert) – leading the 2nd leg of La Solitaire du Figaro. 'We all have wind, some 15 knots so we are moving and the sea is quite rough so being knocked around a bit and then sadly, we have no sun. There is less traffic and then with the AIS you can at least forewarn when it is foggy. A fishing boat was heading straight for me last night, but then we managed to avoid each other with the flash of torchlights. I managed to get 20 minute naps so have recovered a bit and all is well. There is a little weather front coming up which means it should be quite fast along the Channel. Can’t see anyone else around and focus on my navigation, helming and the seaweed that could get caught up. It feels a bit like a transatlantic race at times and miss having someone close by at times to check performance, but then I am not going to turn round to go and find someone!'

Gérald Véniard (Macif) – in third place. 'The Green Giant is getting a way, he is doing a 'Troussel' on us! I have a cargo ship behind…last night was quite stressful up to the point where Franck had his accident. Navigation wise, there are a few options to take, and we are still a hundred or so miles from the right turn so have a few gybes to go yet. There are ten of use bunched quite close together chasing Gildas (Morvan) down.'

Vincent Biarnes (Côtes d’Armor). 'Not managed to sleep much, there was a lot of cargo traffic, which meant having to be really vigilant so am going to try and get some rest now. Up until now everything was played out in the run up to Finisterre when I opted for a course close to the Spanish coastline, which unfortunately did not pay off. Quite large caps were built and have continued to build. Gildas now has 20 miles on me and we still have a further 300 to go on which to try and catch up. 'We all know the Breton coastline well and what is going to be tough is that Gildas is going to get round it at the right time before it turns, whilst we will get there later and it is going to complicate things. I think that we are still going to loose miles and then going to have to fight our way out around thee. Despite all this, the morale is good and the race has been fun, downwind, no sun but then at least it is not too rough. 50 or so dolphins came to pay a visit, which was really nice…'

Nicolas Bérenger (Koné Ascenseurs) – second on the 15:30 poll. 'Like a good Mediterranean, I have put my sunglasses on, to at least make believe that there is some sun, but it is raining so it is really Britanny! I am making good headway under spinnaker and would have like a little more wind, but am not complaining. The minute you leave the helm the boat slows down. You do see some of the spinnakers around me performing better than others…It is really getting interesting now. It is as of tonight that it is all going to happen. I have not worked out how I am going to approach it yet, it is going to depend on what time I get to the headland.'

Positions ARGOS relevées le 03/08/08 à 15:36:00

Etape 2 - Vigo / Cherbourg-Octeville

Départ le 01/08/2008 à 14h45pper N° Bateau Jour Heure Lat Long Cap Vit Vmg Dist

1 Morvan Gildas 4 Cercle Vert 03/08/2008 15:36:00 47 52.57' N 5 51.98' W 50 8.3 8.3 à 203.6 nm

2 Bérenger Nicolas 68 KONE Ascenseurs 03/08/2008 15:30:00 47 49.38' N 6 08.59' W 27 10.2 9.4 à 9.5 nm

3 Veniard Gérald 94 Macif 03/08/2008 15:00:00 47 52.90' N 6 21.21' W 23 9.8 8.4 à 10 nm

4 Attanasio Romain 62 DCNS 62 03/08/2008 15:30:00 47 56.78' N 6 17.98' W 25 10.0 8.6 à 10.2 nm

5 Mahé Gildas 3 Le Comptoir Immobillier 03/08/2008 15:30:00 47 56.71' N 6 17.81' W 25 9.9 8.6 à 10.2 nm

6 Le Miere Grégoire 23 OTCex Group 03/08/2008 15:30:00 47 48.22' N 6 08.54' W 29 10.1 9.6 à 10.2 nm

7 Troussel Nicolas 1 Financo 03/08/2008 15:30:00 47 50.47' N 6 11.40' W 26 10.1 9.3 à 10.3 nm

8 Pratt Christopher 97 DCNS 97 03/08/2008 15:00:00 47 52.64' N 6 21.37' W 24 9.2 8.1 à 10.4 nm

9 Lunven Nicolas 50 Foncia 03/08/2008 15:30:00 47 51.13' N 6 12.55' W 25 10.2 9.2 à 10.5 nm

10 Tabarly Erwan 18 Athema 03/08/2008 15:30:00 47 56.13' N 6 18.80' W 24 9.9 8.6 à 11 nm

11 Rouxel Thomas 2 Défi Mousquetaires 03/08/2008 15:30:00 47 55.89' N 6 18.75' W 23 10.3 8.8 à 11.1 nm

12 Grégoire Jeanne 40 Banque Populaire 03/08/2008 15:30:00 47 55.85' N 6 19.12' W 24 10.0 8.6 à 11.4 nm

13 Chabagny Thierry 92 SUZUKI Automobiles 03/08/2008 15:30:00 47 56.35' N 6 20.41' W 26 10.1 8.8 à 11.8 nm

14 Drouglazet Eric 7 Luisina 03/08/2008 15:30:00 47 46.79' N 6 10.18' W 39 9.5 9.4 à 12 nm

15 Nagy Robert 26 THEOLIA 03/08/2008 15:30:00 47 56.40' N 6 21.44' W 40 9.2 8.8 à 12.3 nm

16 Nicol Jean-Pierre 15 Gavottes 03/08/2008 15:30:00 47 41.37' N 6 03.65' W 27 10.0 9.6 à 12.6 nm

17 Koch Antoine 74 Sopra Group 1 03/08/2008 15:30:00 47 54.21' N 6 20.33' W 69 10.0 9.7 à 12.8 nm

18 Pellecuer Laurent 31 Docteur Valnet aromathérapie 03/08/2008 15:30:00 47 52.54' N 6 18.58' W 23 10.1 8.7 à 12.9 nm

19 Duthil Frédéric 10 Distinxion Automobile 03/08/2008 15:00:00 47 53.48' N 6 26.81' W 23 9.5 8.1 à 13 nm

20 Lebas Christophe 11 LOLA 03/08/2008 15:30:00 47 42.16' N 6 05.99' W 65 9.7 9.2 à 13.1 nm

21 Péron Eric 79 L'esprit d'équipe 03/08/2008 15:30:00 47 42.50' N 6 08.51' W 64 9.7 9.2 à 14.1 nm

22 D'Ali Pietro 42 Mc Louis 03/08/2008 15:30:00 47 40.25' N 6 05.29' W 33 9.6 9.4 à 14.2 nm

23 Rivet Frédéric 22 BUREAU-CENTER 03/08/2008 15:30:00 47 46.30' N 6 14.04' W 63 9.7 9.5 à 14.3 nm

24 Gouezigoux Laurent 48 BOISTECH 03/08/2008 15:30:00 47 41.60' N 6 08.70' W 64 10.0 9.5 à 14.8 nm

25 Lepesqueux Marc 70 Les Conquérants de Normandie/Caen la Mer 03/08/2008 15:00:00 47 41.69' N 6 18.02' W 64 9.3 9.0 à 14.9 nm

26 Tripon Armel 9 Gedimat 03/08/2008 15:30:00 47 34.73' N 5 57.70' W 25 9.7 9.4 à 15 nm

27 Loison Alexis 60 ALLMER INEO GDF SUEZ 03/08/2008 15:30:00 47 58.85' N 6 28.68' W 20 10.5 8.2 à 15.3 nm

28 Treussart Ronan 6 Groupe Celeos 03/08/2008 15:30:00 47 45.02' N 6 21.92' W 66 9.7 9.4 à 19.2 nm

29 Biarnes Vincent 72 Côtes d'Armor 03/08/2008 15:30:00 47 49.93' N 6 28.69' W 19 10.4 8.5 à 20 nm

30 Belloir Aymeric 85 CAP 56 03/08/2008 15:30:00 47 45.28' N 6 24.23' W 24 9.9 8.9 à 20.3 nm

31 Mouren Jean-Paul 13 M@rseillEntreprises 03/08/2008 15:00:00 47 41.30' N 6 29.42' W 22 9.8 8.7 à 21.2 nm

32 Monnet Jean-Charles 33 Degrémont SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT 03/08/2008 15:30:00 47 39.17' N 6 18.99' W 28 10.4 9.8 à 21.4 nm

33 Douguet Corentin 16 E.Leclerc Mobile 03/08/2008 15:00:00 47 46.96' N 6 36.16' W 52 8.4 8.3 à 21.7 nm

34 * Amedeo Fabrice 57 Aquarelle.com 03/08/2008 14:29:40 47 34.62' N 6 31.40' W 20 9.8 8.7 à 22 nm

35 * Gendron Grégory 44 Sopra Group 2 03/08/2008 15:30:00 47 50.86' N 6 36.85' W 68 9.6 9.5 à 24 nm

36 * Szekely Malko 99 Région Basse-Normandie 03/08/2008 15:30:00 47 45.55' N 6 32.32' W 22 9.5 8.2 à 24.5 nm

37 Bouillard Didier 69 MEDevent 03/08/2008 15:30:00 47 48.07' N 6 34.87' W 26 9.4 8.2 à 24.5 nm

38 * Gabart François 25 Espoir Région Bretagne 03/08/2008 15:00:00 47 50.05' N 6 43.84' W 27 8.4 7.2 à 25 nm

39 * Greenwood Andy 52 Imtech 03/08/2008 15:30:00 47 47.06' N 6 36.07' W 21 10.0 8.4 à 25.7 nm

40 Wardley Liz 8 Sojasun 03/08/2008 14:30:00 47 37.40' N 6 41.92' W 63 8.8 8.7 à 25.9 nm

41 * Hardy Adrien 32 AGIR Recouvrement 03/08/2008 15:30:00 47 45.60' N 6 35.39' W 20 10.0 8.3 à 26.2 nm

42 * Jossier Nicolas 64 Esprit Voile 50 03/08/2008 15:00:00 47 39.89' N 6 38.59' W 31 8.8 8.3 à 27.1 nm

43 * Bard Philippe 21 Morillon.fr 03/08/2008 15:30:00 47 37.37' N 6 27.91' W 32 9.5 9.1 à 27.2 nm

44 * Joschke Isabelle 19 Synergie 03/08/2008 15:30:00 47 50.28' N 6 44.92' W 68 9.4 9.3 à 28.9 nm

45 Da Cruz Antonio-Pedro 47 Baïko 03/08/2008 15:30:00 47 44.73' N 6 42.78' W 30 8.7 7.9 à 30.8 nm

46 Bos Christian 14 Région Midi Pyrénées 03/08/2008 15:00:00 47 45.01' N 6 51.04' W 25 8.8 7.5 à 31.6 nm

47 * Riou Elodie 37 KPMG 03/08/2008 15:30:00 47 09.28' N 6 36.25' W 36 9.5 9.4 à 51.3 nm

48 Le Meitour Jean-Philippe 43 La voix de l'enfant 03/08/2008 15:30:00 46 22.37' N 6 47.75' W 35 8.3 8.2 à 94.3 nm

Le Gal Franck 5 Lenze ABD

* D'Hooghe Eric 36 FMC Recyclage-Thompson Recyclage ABD

* : Première participation.

Généré le 03/08/2008 à 15h52

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